2 Samuel 24:18-25

Expanded Bible

¹⁸ That day Gad came to David and said, “Go and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David did what Gad told him to do, just as the Lord commanded.

²⁰ Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming to him. So he went out and ·bowed facedown [prostrated himself] on the ground before the king. ²¹ He said, “Why has my ·master [lord] the king come to ·me [^Lhis servant]?”

David answered, “To buy the threshing floor from you so I can build an altar to the Lord. Then the ·terrible disease [epidemic; pestilence; plague] will ·stop [be averted/lifted/withheld from the people].”

²² Araunah said to David, “My ·master [lord] and king, you may take anything you want for a ·sacrifice [offering]. Here are some oxen for the whole burnt offering and the threshing ·boards [sledges] and the yokes for the wood. ²³ My king, I give ·everything [all this] to you.” Araunah also said to the king, “May the Lord your God ·be pleased with [respond favorably to; accept] you.”

²⁴ But the king answered Araunah, “No, I ·will pay you for [insist on buying] the land. I won’t ·offer [sacrifice] to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for ·one and one-fourth pounds [^Lfifty shekels] of silver. ²⁵ He built an altar to the Lord there and ·offered [sacrificed] whole burnt offerings and ·fellowship [or peace; well-being; Lev. 3:1] offerings [^Cthis site is the later location of the temple; 1 Chr. 22:1]. Then the Lord ·answered his [was moved by/felt pity from this] prayer for the country, and the ·disease [epidemic; pestilence; plague] in Israel ·stopped [was averted/lifted/withheld].